


For the Widows of Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti (Side A)

by Liliako



Series: For the Widows of Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti [1]
Category: Big Time Rush
Genre: Dad's who suck, Gen, Mama Knight being fierce, Pre-show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 23:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4980538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliako/pseuds/Liliako
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A woman will do what is necessary when things get rough. Pre-Show Mama Knight centered fic. Minor mentions of child abuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the Widows of Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti (Side A)

The day he hits Kendall is the day she carries both of them on her hip as she walks out the door. Adrenaline can do a lot for a woman’s strength. She drives them as far as she can that night, Katie wheezes softly in the back, Kendall quietly asleep with his head leaning against the side of Katie’s car seat. Streetlights and then moonlight paint his bruised cheek in their glow. She stops in the middle of no-where at a motel with a flickering vacancy sign. Kendall’s eyes stay drooped shut, leaning heavily against her leg while she holds a sleeping Katie to her side and pays the leathery old man, taking her room key.

  
They all fit on the queen sized bed and she is bracketed by them as the anger that’s been fueling her finally melts into silent tears. She hugs them tight and knows what she has to do in the morning.

-

“But I want my doggie,” Katie says with tears gathering in her eyes.

“We’ll get him, honey, but we can’t go back right now.” She smoothes her hand over Katie’s bed head and is eternally grateful when the four year old simply nods and heads to the bathroom. Kendall has been eating his blueberry muffin in tiny pieces he breaks off first.

“Does your mouth hurt?” The last thing she wants to do is talk about it just yet, it’s too soon, but they need to.

“No,” he shakes his head. Kendall breaks off another piece but doesn’t eat it, pausing he looks at her. All she can see is the big blue mark right under his cheekbone. “Does he hate me?” Her heart breaks all over again and she grabs his hand and squeezes it.

“I love you more than anything in this world, Kendall. He’s never going to touch you again,” she says, because she doesn’t lie to her son. He looks at their hands and squeezes back, picking up the whole muffin and biting into it. She’s going to keep her word.

-

They stay with her parents for two days before she gets scared he’ll show up at the door, despite the restraining order. Her father keeps a shotgun at the door and sends them two streets over to live with a woman her mother works with at the University library. They tell her the woman’s got a family of her own with a boy Kendall’s age and that they understand the situation.

The Mitchell’s are the most loving family she’s ever met and Logan gets over being shy as soon as Kendall asks if he wants to play Ninja Turtles outside. She thanks them so much, despite them saying that it was fine and they’re sure she’d do the same for them, that they start to tease her. After she does anything at all for them, even passing a napkin during dinner, then give her a hearty ‘thank ‘ya kindly ma’am’ because they’re originally from Texas. 

The restraining order is all they can do for her, the police say. There’s not sufficient evidence to build a big enough case to put him in jail forever, the lawyer says. She can’t risk putting him in only to have him come out angry. She doesn’t want to waste the money she could put into their college funds. Kendall gets older, they stay in the neighborhood and as his circle of best friends increases, so does her support system. Mr. Garcia is a cop and he assures her that he’ll never let anything happen to the boys or her family. Mrs. Diamond uses her pull with the PTA each year to circulate photos of a dangerous man who should be reported if seen in the town- she doesn’t explain why but no one asks, they all just want to keep their children safe.

 -

When he finally gets put away for life, everyone knows what a monster he is. His name is in all the headlines and they are mentioned in every article. She sits Kendall and Katie down and explains that, though they have part of his DNA, they are nothing like him. She tells them to keep their heads held high and if their friends say anything that they weren’t real friends to begin with. Kendall’s friends keep a protective bubble around him, just like their parents do with her. Katie isn’t so lucky. She only comes home crying once.

“I don’t need them,” she says as she wipes her nose up the length of her arm. “I have you guys.” And the boys, who stopped their video game as soon as they heard the first sob escape her, all agree. For a while they walk her to and from school because older brothers are cool and mom’s are decidedly not at that age. The Knight kids grow up a little quicker than their peers, but she knows they’ll be okay.

-

“No one hurts my baby and gets away with it,” is all she says into the phone before hanging it up. He pounds on the unbreakable wall, screaming as the buzzer rings and visiting hours are over.

-

When they move to L.A. she’s never felt better. It doesn’t matter that she’s thousands of miles from everything she’s ever known. No one looks at them and thinks about newspaper headlines. After her kids are the sweetest things ever and actually somehow get Fabio to be her date, despite the odd meat cooking jacket, she does go on a few dates. Life has finally settled enough for her that she almost forgets the bad times.

-

When Big Time Rush becomes more famous, reporters dig up the past. She hates reading the newspaper, avoids all the news channels, and stops buying tween magazines to see what nice things they’ve written this month. Every article has a dirty mug shot of him next to Kendall’s face and she can’t stand it.

An interviewer brings it up to Kendall on the red carpet. The boys are about to take on defensive stances when Kendall slings an arm over Logan, fingers brushing Carlos’s shoulder and the other hand rests on James’s back.

“Honestly, I don’t know the guy. He didn’t raise me and he’s not my family,” he shrugs a shoulder. “I was raised by one awesome mom and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He smiles contentedly at the camera and the interview girl coos at his answer before she asks about their next album.

‘So proud of you’ she texts him, not caring about the tears in her eyes because she’s bursting at the seams with love.

‘Proud of you too’ he sends back later.

She counts her blessings and wonders where life will take them next. The sky’s the limit.


End file.
